>We’re getting people to expect two years of major shutdowns.

Why doesn't this country have any pride in having functioning public transit, or infrastructure in general? Boston is one of a few US cities with the gift of a comprehensive public transit system - and we've seemingly done everything wrong, ignored needed repairs, and then turned to shutting down entire lines for a month and not even solving all the problems. We don't need another city in the US with a pet-project light rail and a useless bus-only system.

Obviously this is a first world problem, but if we can't get trains to go on tracks without problems that need 730 days to repair, how are we ever going to solve major issues facing the city, such as systemic inequalities? We should round up all the MBTA employees and send them to Tokyo for a month. I don't even use the decrepit T, but the kinds of issues the system has are unacceptable. In Japan people would be in prison for this kind of continued neglect and malfeasance, but evidently no number of excuses are too many in Boston. Maybe a few days out at the Souza Four Seasons Resort in scenic Shirley would do the trick.

When will people take pride in the T and fix the damn problems for once? The trains breaking down is one thing, but we've had people dragged to death by the trains, trains catching fire and filling with smoke, derailments, and a nasty FTA report detailing the lack of safety culture on the T. Meanwhile, as detailed in said report:

>During the on-site portion of the SMI, all levels of the organization, from leadership to frontline workers, expressed surprise and occasional alarm at the MBTA’s declining safety performance but tended to view incidents as “one of a kind” or “freak accidents” rather than the result of systemic failures in operating procedures, training, staffing, and supervision

The best time to fix these problems was during routine maintenance that never happened about 15 years ago.